1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication apparatus capable of a communication through a wireless communication, a communication system having the aforementioned communication apparatus, and a method for controlling the same.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, there has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,720,014 and 6,134,017 a multifunction system, wherein an image input-output apparatus such as a facsimile apparatus is connected to an intelligent terminal by an interface and a service such as a facsimile transmission is provided from the intelligent terminal by using a read function of the facsimile apparatus as a scanner, a record function thereof as a printer, or a communication function.
As disclosed in these Patents, the conventional multifunction system is a system connected through wire such as a serial interface such as RS232, two way parallel port (IEEE1284 standard) such as Centronics or Universal Serial BUS (USB) and the like.
Further, in such a facsimile apparatus, the intelligent terminal takes the initiative in such a manner that the facsimile apparatus returns a response to a command from the intelligent terminal and thus the transmitting and receiving of the control data is performed.
However, in the above described conventional technique, there is a limit to a cable length and, for example, a PC and the facsimile apparatus have to be installed next to each other and the apparatus is not always installed for the user to be able to use it conveniently.
Further, in the case of the above described conventional facsimile apparatus, depending on the function to be realized, there always arises a necessity to poll the state of the facsimile apparatus from the intelligent terminal side and it is necessary to periodically perform the transmitting and receiving of a command for polling the state of the facsimile apparatus and a response thereto.
Hence, a consideration is given to solve the above described problem by connecting the PC and the facsimile apparatus by a standard wireless interface such as a Bluetooth for performing communications.
In this case, when the connection between the intelligent terminal and the interface of the facsimile apparatus is changed from a wire to a wireless interface, the transmitting and receiving of a command for polling the above described state and a response thereto should always be wirelessly performed between the intelligent terminal and the facsimile apparatus. Accordingly, there arises a problem of monopolizing a wireless channel and also consuming an electric power by the transmitting and receiving of the above described command and response.
Further, by performing the polling, after a connection state is brought about for the transmitting and receiving of an image data and a command data between itself and the above described external intelligent terminal, when the transmitting and receiving of the image data and the command data stops, the communication channel remains occupied.
On the other hand, when the channel is not a wired connection using a cable, it is necessary to quickly release the wireless channel. However, in the command system between the conventional intelligent terminal and the facsimile apparatus, there is no command available for the control of the wireless channel. On the contrary, if a command system adding the control command of the wireless channel is adopted, there arises a problem of having no interchangeability with the case of the wired connection.
The above described problem may arise in an image forming apparatus other than the facsimile apparatus.